A Funeral in San Juan

Four-story gravesites. For lack of room, many people opt for "houses" for their loved ones.

The verse is Psalm 57:1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee... My friend Mary's mother is buried here.

Funerals in Mexico are so different from U.S. funerals. SO DIFFERENT! They're different in other parts of the country, yes, but for the most part, the same.

Marcelina died Tuesday morning at 2 AM. The wake for her was held on Tuesday evening, all night for those who could and wanted to stay. Marcelina had 10 children. 8 have accepted Christ, two have not, and many relatives have not, so they insisted on a mass for the "difunta" (dead person). About 15 of us from Iglesia Biblica Vida Abundante showed up and had a little service for those who desired it. The townspeople had their mass after that. During the night the family serves coffee, bread and later in the night, a meal. We didn't stay for that. Someone did serve me a cup of coffee. I held it awhile, then gave it to Victor!

Oh, I forgot. This wasn't IN San Juan. The wake or velorio, was held in El Organal, which is "officially" a part of San Juan, but not really! It's a small village out there. We drove toward Queretaro, exited at San Gil, which is a suburb where the wealthy and wanna-be wealthy live, but rather drove alongside San Gil for a good distance, then on down a very windy, narrow road to El Organal a farming community. The home was basically two rooms, with the "kitchen" outside. The yard was packed-down dirt, nothing more.

Today 8 of us from the church headed to one of the graveyards here in town. We waited about 45 minutes for the casket and family to arrive from El Organal. There was quite a lenghty saying of the rosary, then the casket was taken to where burial was to take place. Try to picture it: a hole for the casket, 3, maybe even 5 inches from the next grave, dirt piled up around it ready to be shoveled into the hole, nothing pretty in any sense of the word, people crowded around in the warm sun, the workers hanging around waiting for us to be done so they could get on with their work. I couldn't help but contrast it with my own mom's funeral last year - so different! The pastor of one of the son's church spoke a few words, then Victor (from our church) had us sing some songs and then read Psalm 23. Some of the non-Christians became upset when we started singing and left. As we were singing, the workers were lowering the casket, placing cement slabs on top of it, shoveling a mixture of cement on top of that, then shoveling the dirt back into the hole. We stood with Cruz (Cross), her daughter, and she, through her tears, sang along with us. The relatives then put all the flowers and wreaths on and around the gravesite. And we left. Cruz and her husband and brother expressed their heartfelt gratitude to us for accompanying them at their time of need. It was a difficult time for them, because they really wanted a Christian funeral for their mom, who was a believer, but instead of fighting with the rest of the relatives, let them do their ritual. We heard that someone wanted to "kick us out", but after all, we had been invited too!

A funeral here is NOT the place to take pictures, but I did get a couple pictures of Mary's mother's grave and some of the "houses" of grave sites, which are being used now, because of lack of room. The graves are unbelievably close together. Cruz' mom was buried in the same "hole" as her dad, who died 10 years ago. They dug up his bones, put them in a bag on top of her casket, so both parents are in the same gravesite. I asked Mary about costs for the headstones. YES, funerals here are different - costwise (much cheaper!) and in every other way.

Yes, it's very different from what we're used to. It isn't something I'd like to do everyday - not even every year - not even ever! But when our people are in need of comforting and need us to accompany them in their time of great need, it's worth it!